FLORA'S i,i:\ ICON. 107 



KIM ROSE. Primula. Class 5, Pentan 

 dria. Order: Monogynia. The saffron 

 tufts of the primrose announce the return of 

 spring, when we see the snowy mantle of 

 retiring winter ornamented with embroidery 

 of verdure and of flowers. The season of 

 hoar frost has passed, but the bright days of 



summer have not yet arrived. The period is emblematical of a 



lovely girl just passing from childhood to youth. 



EARLY YOUTH. 



By the soft green light in the woody glade, 

 On the banks of moss where thy childhood play'd, 

 By the household tree through which thine eye 

 First look'd in love to the summer sky ; 

 By the dewy gleam, by the very breath 

 Of the Primrose-tufts in the grass beneath, 

 Upon thy heart there is laid a spell, 

 Holy and precious — oh ! guard it well ! 



Yes ! when thy heart in its pride would stray 

 From the first pure loves of its youth away ; 

 When the sullying breath of the world would come 

 O'er the flowers it brought from its native home ; 

 Think thou again of the woody glade, 

 Of the sound by the rustling Ivy made. 

 Think of the tree at thy father's door, 

 And the kindly spell shall have power once more. 



Twamley. 



No smiling knot 

 Of early primroses, upon the warm, 

 Luxuriant, southern bank appears, unmark'd 

 By him. 



Carrington. 



